Dictionary of Russian Slang and Colloquial Expressions

353 Pages·2006·6.91 MB·English

by  Vladimir Shlyakhov

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RRUUSSSSIIAANN
Third Edition
Vladimir Shlyakhov and Eve Adler
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©Copyright 2006, 1999, 1995 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
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ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-3033-5
ISBN-10: 0-7641-3033-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shlyakhov, Vladimir.
Dictionary of Russian slang & colloquial expressions = Russkii sleng /
Vladimir Shlyakhov, Eve Adler. – 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-3033-5 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7641-3033-1 (alk. paper)
1. Russian language – Slang – Dictionaries – English. 2. Russian language –
New words – Dictionaries – English. 3. Russian language – Idioms – Dictionaries
– English. I. Title: Russian slang. II. Title: Dictionary of Russian slang. III. Title:
Russkii sleng. iV. Title: Dictionary of Russian slang and colloquial expressions. V.
Adler, Eve. VI. Title.
PG2752.S57 2006
491.73'21-dc22
2005052401
Library of Congress Control Number 2005052401
Printed in Canada
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments iv
Preface v
Russian Slang and Russian Lexicography in Our Time v
Chief Sources of the Words and Expressions in this Dictionary vi
Role of this Dictionary in Linguistics and Sociolinguistics vii
Organization of the Dictionary viii
Preface to the Second Edtion xi
Preface to the Third Edition xi
Abbreviations xiii
Dictionary of Russian Slang and Colloquial Expressions 1
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to Middlebury College for generous financial assistance in preparing
the manuscript for publication.
Ivan and Fyodor Shlyakhov helped in collecting youth and army expressions. Olga
Shlyakhov gave invaluable help with Russian stress and punctuation. Toma Tasovac
helped with typing.
Jane Chaplin and Bill and Peggy Nelson gave help and encouragement from start to
finish.
Ray and Shirley Benson of the American Collegiate Consortium read and commented
on the earliest version of the dictionary. Professors Kevin Moss and Sergei S. Davydov
read parts of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions.
We are grateful to A. Akishina, V. Zanin, and M. Vyatyutnev, all colleagues from the
Pushkin State Institute of Russian, who helped with advice and shared their vast knowl-
edge of slang.
We are grateful to my friend Bill Nelson for his help with the usage examples for the
letters è, ê, ë, í, which he translated with his characteristic sensitivity to nuance.
We are grateful to Marine Corps Captain Kristen Lasica, who, as a student at the
Pushkin Russian Language Institute in Moscow, devoted a great deal of time and energy
to translating the Russian examples into English.
The Pushkin State Institute of Russian generously supported Vladimir Shlyakhov with
leave from teaching duties to work on this dictionary.
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A
PREFACE
♦ ♦
Russian Slang and Russian Lexicography in Our Time
Russian, like every language, has a considerable stock of slang and colloquial words
and expressions. Although everyone knows that slang is widely used, the Soviet regime
attempted to outlaw it. Official Soviet linguistic scholarship and censorship made every
effort to prevent the appearance of slang in literary works and in the pages of newspapers
and magazines. For decades, slang was off-limits to dictionaries and no research was con-
ducted in this field.
As a result, Russian lexicography has shown large gaps in this area. For more than half
of the twentieth century, beginning in the 1920s, not a single adequate dictionary of Rus-
sian slang was published, and it has been extremely difficult to find any scholarly literature
on the subject. During the Soviet period the only dictionary of slang available in Russia
was V.F. Trachtenberg’s Blatnaå muzyka (Thieves’ Cant), published in St. Petersburg in
1908. Aside from Trachtenberg’s work, dictionaries of criminal slang, such as the Dictio-
nary of Thieves’ Cantpublished in Baku in 1971, were produced only for official police
use.
In Russia, then, twentieth-century dictionaries have excluded the vast areas of contem-
porary youth slang, army slang, criminal slang, children’s slang, and professional slang, as
well as colloquial words and expressions—street language—in wide use at all levels of the
population.
Interest in slang has increased considerably in Russia in recent years. One sign of this
interest is the fate of A. Flegon’s Za predelami russkix slovarej (Beyond the Bounds of
Russian Dictionaries), originally published in London (Flegon Press) in 1973. This dictio-
nary, in spite of its lexicographic defects, became a best-seller when it was reprinted in
Russia in 1991. Russians’ increasing interest in slang is also evidenced by the appearance
of many collections of youth slang and criminal slang in newspapers and magazines. Since
the beginning of the 1990s, the following works on slang have been published in Russia.
V.V. Makhov, Slovarh blatnogo Ωargona v SSSR (Dictionary of Criminal Slang in
the USSR) (Kharkov: 1991).
F.I. Rozhansky, Hippie Slang: Materials for a Dictionary (St. Petersburg: European
House, 1992).
D.S. Baldayev et al., Slovarh t¨remno-lagerno-blatnogo Ωargona (Dictionary of
Prison/Labor-Camp/Criminal Slang) (Moscow: Kraya Moskvy, 1992).
V.P. Belyanin and I.A. Butenko, Tolkovyj slovarh sovremennyx razgovornyx
frazeologizmov i prislovij (Explanatory Dictionary of Contemporary Colloquial
Idioms and Sayings) (Moscow: Rossisskij Institut Kulturologii, 1993).
I. Yuganov and F. Yuganova, Russkij Ωargon 60-90-x godov (Russian Slang from the
’60s to the ’90s) (Moscow: Pomovskij i partnery, 1994).
The most lexicographically professional and complete Russian slang dictionary to date
is V.S. Yelistratov, Slovarh moskovskogo argo (Dictionary of Moscow Argot) (Moscow:
Russkie slovari, 1994).
Thus, recent years have shown marked activity within Russia aimed at filling the lexi-
cograpical gaps of the Soviet years.
At the same time, several useful publications in the field of Russian slang have
appeared in the United States, including such specialized works as D.A. Drummond and
G. Perkins, A Short Dictionary of Russian Obscenities(Berkeley, Calif.: Berkeley Slavic
Specialties, 1973); V. Carpovich, Solzhenitzyn’s Peculiar Vocabulary: Russian–English
Glossary(New York: Technical Dictionaries, 1976); V. Kozlovsky, A Collection of Rus-
sian Thieves’ Dictionaries (New York: Chalidze Publications, 1983); and I. Corten,
Vocabulary of Soviet Society and Culture(Duke University Press, 1992).
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The present dictionary is based on the recording and collecting of Vladimir Shlyakhov
in the years 1987 through 1994, mostly in Moscow. The author was guided by one chief
principle: all words and expressions, in whatever social stratum of the Russian-speaking
population they may originate, have a claim to appear in the pages of dictionaries. During
the long process of collecting the materials and composing the articles, he was sustained
by his sense of performing a duty, as an inheritor, lover, and scholar of the Russian lan-
guage, to preserve an endangered part of that language and bear witness to its use. The
negative attitude of Soviet scholarship toward slang resulted in significant losses for lexi-
cography; many words of “low style” have been lost forever. In this dictionary, the author
has striven to record Russian slang of the second half of the twentieth century in a manner
conforming to the standards of scholarly lexicography.
The Russian–English version of the dictionary was composed in close collaboration by
Vladimir Shlyakhov and Eve Adler. This work attempts to take account not only of the
realities of Russian slang and colloquial speech, but also of the special needs and interests
of English-speaking students and scholars. Its goal is to provide such readers with a reli-
able and convenient key to this previously inaccessible area of Russian life and language.
In adapting the dictionary for this Russian–English edition, special efforts have been made
to render the explanatory material and the usage examples as transparent as possible, par-
ticularly where words and expressions reflect those areas of Russian and Soviet experience
that are likely to be most foreign to English speakers.
Chief Sources of the Words and Expressions in this Dictionary
This dictionary draws on the speech in use in several specific spheres of life, but
includes primarily expressions that have entered into the usage, or at least the passive
recognition, of a wide spectrum of the Russian-speaking population. The chief sources are:
1. Widely used colloquialisms and street language. In many cases, such idioms and
expressions fall into a gray area covered neither by standard dictionaries nor by specialized
slang dictionaries. Special attention has been given to fixed forms of banter, rhyming
phrases, and so on. For example, Ona devußka cto nado.= “She’s quite a gal.” Cto-to
stalo xolodath, ne pora li nam poddath?= An invitation or suggestion to have a drink
(lit.,“It seems to be getting a little chilly—shouldn’t we have a drink?”).
2. Criminal slang. A thieves’ argot, unintelligible to the general population, is for obvi-
ous reasons the distinguishing feature of communication among criminals. In Stalin’s time
a great many people were condemned to terms in prisons and camps, where they were
compelled to adopt the language in use. Thus hundreds of words of criminal slang have
penetrated the Russian colloquial and written language—perhaps to a greater extent than
in any other language. Today many of these words are no longer felt to belong to criminal
slang, such as alkaß (drunkard), baßli (money), vodåra (vodka), vyßka (death sen-
tence), deßøvka (traitor), kosoj (drunk), laΩa (nonsense), and so on.
Of course, other words still belong more strictly to criminal usage, such as ban (train
station), verxi (outer pocket), and skrip (basket).
3. Army slang. Most of those who serve in the army are of course young people, who
are the most receptive to slang and the most fertile in creating new words and expressions.
Many words of army slang have entered the national language, such as salaga (new
recruit), polkan (colonel), lejt (lieutenant), and guba (place of disciplinary punishment).
Words still belonging more strictly to army usage include ßnurok (a new recruit) and
gasithså (to shirk duty).
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4. Youth slang. Youth slang has become a vast and productive system influencing the
development of contemporary Russian speech. It manifests all the processes that attend the
emergence of new words and expressions. Youth slang interacts with other slangs; it
includes, for instance, a great number of criminals’ expressions. Many words and expres-
sions from youth slang have come into general use.
In the last ten to fifteen years, youth slang has adopted a great many words from the
west European languages, modifying them in accordance with the rules of Russian word
formation. Some foreign words have kept their meanings, such as fejs (face), baksy (dol-
lars), drinkath (to drink), fajnovyj (fine); others have taken on different shades of
meaning: mejkathså (to turn out all right); frendithså (to be friends with someone).
5. School and university, sports, and musical slang.
6. Obscenitiesand the expressions and wordplays derived from them.
Role of this Dictionary in Linguistics and Sociolinguistics
The study of slang-word usage reveals the propensity of slang words and expressions to
penetrate from one social sphere into another, and, particularly, into standard Russian.
Youth slang, army slang, and criminal slang are, in turn, open systems. The mutual influ-
ence of different slangs is obvious: each adds to its own lexicon from the stocks of the oth-
ers. Slang is one of the sources of increase to the lexical stock of the Russian language.
The processes of word formation and shifts of meaning that take place in standard
speech proceed very rapidly in slang systems. These processes can be studied and classi-
fied. With this dictionary, linguists can investigate the laws of the birth and spread of slang
expressions in the Russian-speaking milieu.
For scholars and students of Russian language and culture, this dictionary will make it
possible to open or extend important areas of study:
1. The processes by which slang penetrates the standard national language.
2. The processes by which different spheres of slang borrow from one another.
3. The processes of morphological and semantic adaptation of words borrowed from
the European languages.
4. The development of new meanings of words in common use, for example, kole-
bath/zakolebath = lit., to vibrate; colloquially, to irritate, exasperate. Ty menå zakolebal
svoimi proshbami, “You’ve exasperated me with your constant requests” (cf. English
“vibes”).
5. The formation of new slang idioms from widely used proverbs and sayings.
Na bab†a i zverh beΩit, “Men simply run into a woman’s traps,” from Na lov†a i
zverh beΩit, “The game simply runs to the trapper.”
Vodka naß vrag i my eø unictoΩaem, “The enemy is vodka, so we’ll utterly consume
it,”from the well-known saying of the Stalin years regarding enemies of the people: Esli
vrag ne sdaøtså, my ego unictoΩaem, “If the enemy won’t surrender, we’ll utterly con-
sume him.”
6. Culture through the prism of words, that is, how culture and everyday life are
reflected in words.
Skommunizdith, to steal, “communize,” by rhyme-play on spizdith, an obscene
expression for “steal,” and kommunizm, “communism.” The expression reflects the sar-
donic popular stance on stealing from plants and factories: there is nothing dishonest in it
since, according to communist doctrine, property belongs to all, that is, to no one.
Glubeßnik, a KGB agent. From glubokij, “deep,” and kagebeßnik or gebeßnik,
“KGB-agent”. The expression is based on a jocular interpretation of the abbreviation KGB
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(KGB — Komitet gosudarstvennoj bezopasnosti, “Committee on State Security”) as
standing for Kontora glubokogo bureniå, “Office of Deep Drilling”—a place where peo-
ple are occupied in “digging,” conducting deep investigations.
Prixvatiza†iå, corrupt exploitation of unstable policies on the privatization or dena-
tionalization of plants, factories, and stores. Punning on prixvatith, “grab,” and
privatiza†iå, “privatization.” In the absence of stable and enforceable policies, everyone
who had the power started to appropriate, or grab, government property—Moscow real
estate, factory equipment, and so on— by dishonest means.
Organization of the Dictionary
Contents and Organization of Each Entry
A typical entry consists of:
1. The Russian word or phrase, its accentuation, and its chief grammatical forms.
2. Identification of its grammatical category, social sphere, and emotional tone.
3. A definition in standard English, sometimes with suggestions of slang counterparts.
4. A Russian sentence or sentences illustrating the usage of the word or phrase.
5. An English translation of the Russian example. Where possible, corresponding En-
glish slang expressions are suggested. In the many cases where the two languages
and cultures present no such correspondences, the English translations use standard
English or literal renditions of the Russian.
Verbsare listed as imperfective/perfective pairs when possible:
BçNITH/POBçNITH, crim. To interrogate (lit., to give someone a steam bath). Nas
banili cetyre casa, no my molcok. “They grilled us for four hours, but we held our
tongues.”
In long verb entries, expressions are organized in the following order: (1) fully conju-
gable expressions, (2) expressions limited to the infinitive, past, present, future, and imper-
ative.
Nounsare listed in the nominative, followed by their genitive ending.
BïXTA, -y,f., crim. A dive, den, shabby or illegal establishment (lit., a bay, harbor).
Kto derΩit ´tu buxtu? “Who’s the proprietor of this joint?”
In long noun entries, expressions are organized by the case of the noun in the traditional
order (nom., acc., gen., dat., instr., prep.) and in alphabetical order within each case.
Adjectivesare listed in the masculine singular, followed by their feminine and neuter sin-
gular endings.
BESPREDèLHNYJ, -aå, -oe, neg. Illegal, immoral (cf. bespredêl). Ty cital
bespredelhnu¨ stath¨ o russkix faßistax? O nix pißut kak o geroåx.“Have you
read this outrageous article about the Russian Fascists, praising them as if they were
heroes?”
Phrases and Idioms
This dictionary not only explains individual words but gives special attention to collo-
quial phrases and idiomatic expressions. How should the user find an idiomatic expression
in this dictionary?
1.If the expression is governed by a conjugable verb, it is listed under the main entry
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for that verb. For example:
dath po ßarém is listed underdavéth/dath.
zabivéth mozgí is listed underzabivéth/zabíth.
metéth ikrñ is listed undermetéth/zametéth.
In many cases a cross-reference to the relevant verb is provided under another signifi-
cant word in the phrase. For example, a reference to davéth is given under ßarò; to
zabivéth, under mozgí; and to metéth, under ikré.
a. If the verb is optional in the expression, the main entry appears under the noun or
adjective, with a cross-reference from the verb. For example:
(pith/vòpith) iz gîrla is listed undergîrlo, with a cross-reference frompith/vò-
pith.
b. If the verb occurs in a conjugated form (usually imperative) at the head of a fixed
expression, then the main entry is given under the conjugated form, with a cross-reference
from the main listing of that verb. For example:
vozhmí s pîlki piroΩîk is listed under vozhmí, with a cross-reference from
brath/vzåth.
déli, dognéli i ewø raz déli is listed under déli, with a cross-reference from
davéth/dath.
2. An expression consisting of the nominative form of a noun with an accompanying
adjective is listed under the word beginning the expression. For example:
asfélhtovaå bolêznh is listed under asfélhtovaå
ißék pîtnyj is listed under ißék
3.An expression consisting of a declined form of a noun, with or without a preposition
or accompanying adjectives, is listed under the nominative of that noun. For example:
na brovúx is listed underbrovh
do porosúchego vízga is listed undervizg
vs¨ dorîgu is listed underdorîga
4. A fixed expression not governed by a conjugable verb and including more than a
noun phrase is listed under its first word, regardless of the grammatical class of that word.
Such expressions are, where possible, cross-referenced from a keyword. For example:
gîlyj Véså nocevél is listed undergîlyj, with a cross-reference fromVéså
na bab†é i zverh beΩít is listed underna, with a cross-reference frombabê†
bez kéjfu nêtu léjfu is listed underbez, with a cross-reference fromkéjf
5. An expression containing any of the following obscene nouns is listed under that
noun: govnî, Ωîpa, pizdé, xer, xren, xuj, åj†î.
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